Great turnout for Bath Wings & Wheels Fest

Hot Springs, Va. – The Bath Wings and Wheels festival took off with a great start on Saturday at Ingalls Field. Wings and Wheels offered a car show, an air show, vendors, food, games and activities throughout the day. And the air show featured some unique radio controlled flying machines.

Roy Dodson with Radio Active Air Shows provided commentary.

“Oh no, the lawnmower’s got away from him,” says Dodson. “Oh my goodness, the lawnmower has taken off. I can’t believe it, a flying lawnmower. What in the world are we gonna do. Ladies and gentleman obviously just pulling your legs or at least one leg. That’s non other than the fully automated, fully structured yard bird automated flying machine. And look at just what took off. It’s a hybrid leaf blower with a wing on it. And he’s got two batteries, two electric motors and two propellers on the front of it, that’s why it’s a hybrid. It’s not a hybrid Honda, it’s a hybrid leaf blower.”

The People’s Choice Award winners in the car show include Stevie Hicks with a 1950 Chevy two door Bel Air in the car category. The truck winner is Cindy Robertson with a Ford 5100. Motorcycle winner is David Kershner with a Harley Electra Glide and Lee Fry won the tractor category with a 1954 Super MTA Farmall diesel.

Around 3 o’clock rain moved in for about an hour. And with the threat of more rain, the final musical performance of the day by Moonshine Express was cancelled.

Maggie Anderson is Bath County’s Director of Tourism.

“Well, until the monsoon struck, we did really, really well,” says Anderson. “We had a great turnout, don’t know the numbers yet, it’s too soon. We haven’t been able to count the tickets or talk to the guys in the parking lot. But we had close to a hundred cars. And we were able to get the air show. All three performers just gave us a hundred percent. Got to have the lawnmowers flying. Everything that we wanted to have happen, happened. We just want to thank everyone for coming out, sticking with it. And we hope we’ll see them again next year.”

Anderson is pleased with changes that helped improve the festival this year.

“I think the parking situation was improved,” says Anderson. “We had great coordination. I think the set up went really, really well. We did sort of a vendor alley this year. And I think that helped people stay directed, so our vendors did well and our guests were served well. We also had a lot more room for parking the cars, so the cars had a lot more room. So I think overall just the formatting and the setup of the show.”

Wings and Wheels is hosted by the Bath County Airport Authority, the Chamber of Commerce, Parks and Recreation and County of Bath Tourism.

Mark Nelson is the Director of Parks and Recreation.

“I feel everything went great,” says Nelson. “I hate that we couldn’t get Moonshine Express in, but the weather’s just going to keep us from doing it. We had a lot of cars this year. I thought the air show was great. Our remote control planes added a whole different aspect, but they did a wonderful job. I’d like to thank everybody for the participation. I’d like to thank the people that helped us, thank all the people with the cars that came. I can’t say enough about the community.”

Wings and Wheels is held the first Saturday of August each year at Ingalls Field.